Key points
- A premium tier of Hatch could cost as high as $199.99 a month, The Information reported.
- Watermelon, the new Meta model due in October, has reportedly matched OpenAI GPT-5.5 on internal tests.
- BofA holds Buy with an $810 target. Bernstein sees Meta passing Google Search in ad revenue this year.
Meta Platforms (META) plans to launch a consumer AI agent called Hatch inside Instagram and WhatsApp as soon as early September, The Information reported on August 25, citing internal documents. The company has considered several subscription levels for the product, including a premium option priced as high as $199.99 a month. Meta hasn't confirmed the name, the features, the launch date, or the pricing.
Hatch is built to complete tasks on its own rather than answer questions in a chat. It can reportedly "browse websites and navigate UIs to perform autonomous tasks such as purchases, restaurant bookings, form completion, and communications," Bank of America analyst Justin Post wrote in a Monday note. Integrations under discussion include DoorDash, Etsy, Yelp, and others. Meta AI, the assistant already inside the company's apps, mostly responds within a conversation. Hatch takes a goal and works through the steps itself.
The model behind it
A new Meta model, code-named Watermelon, is scheduled for October. Business Insider reported that Alexandr Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, said the model has caught up with OpenAI's GPT-5.5 on internal benchmarks while still in training, using about ten times the compute of its predecessor. Those benchmarks haven't been made public. Meta reportedly plans for Watermelon to become the main model running both Hatch and Meta AI across Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
In the same note, Post reiterated a Buy rating on Meta with an $810 price target. "We think there is a significant long-term opportunity for consumer agent usage, with Meta's large global user base providing a meaningful advantage in driving adoption," Post wrote. He added that Hatch "will need to be highly functional and differentiated versus OpenAI and Gemini."
Separately, Bernstein said Meta is on track to surpass Google Search in advertising revenue before the end of 2026, and that Meta captured nearly half of every incremental digital advertising dollar in the second quarter.
The subscription push comes as Meta's AI spending climbs. The buildout pushed free cash flow down 91% last quarter, and the company's capex budget this year runs to $145 billion. The New York Times reported last week that Meta relied on Anthropic's models while developing and testing Hatch, and could spend up to $10 billion a year on Anthropic's tools. Meta closed Friday at $578.02.
In his note, Post listed the factors he thinks will decide adoption: "(1) ease of use, (2) product utility and ecosystem integration, (3) user trust around automated tasks and security, and (4) subscription pricing that provides strong consumer value while generating a return on Meta's compute investment."
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